alum

Hanneli Hudock ’01, Ph.D.

Chemistry | New Brunswick, N.J.

After graduating from Susquehanna in 2001, Hanneli Hudock thought she was bound for a career as a research scientist. But while she enjoyed the work, she began to find more satisfaction in discussing the work— and its implications across the broader scientific landscape—with others.

“That’s when I realized that I might be happier if I focused on the applications of science rather than doing the science itself,” says Hudock, who currently works as a strategy consultant for a major global consulting firm. There, Hudock focuses primarily on healthcare and topics of strategy and governance. Recent projects include redesigning a top pharmaceutical's research and development organization and strategy, helping a health services company prepare for upcoming changes in healthcare legislation, and building a framework for oncology clinical trial design.

Interestingly, Hudock found her career path in consulting quite accidentally. Like many who come out of graduate school with a background in the sciences, Hudock says she was simply unaware of the myriad career options before her. At the same time, Hudock says the chemistry job market in the United States underwent a major shift, and good research jobs were not nearly as plentiful as they once were. While it was a frustrating reality with which to be confronted, Hudock says she now looks back fondly at the challenges she faced.

“I’m happy that it pushed me to consider other options, and today I use my science background as a training ground for analytic thinking,” she says. “I also use it every day in the specific healthcare topics I work on.”

Those topics are constantly shifting, evolving and changing altogether, which Hudock says is one of the most exciting aspects of her job.

“I enjoy the changing nature of my work. The healthcare industry is a very dynamic environment right now, with many challenges and unresolved issues that insurers, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and government agencies are all working very hard to address,” she says. “I also enjoy having opportunities to lead various initiatives—large and small—within the firm based on new and exciting ideas.”

Hudock attributes her success within the field—and the ability to meet unexpected challenges—to her time spent studying at Susquehanna.

“The chemistry program at Susquehanna is very rigorous and was a great training ground for everything I have done since,” she says.